AT&T CEO Stephenson Confirms Jobs

Steve Jobs mentioned the possibility of a 3G back in September, when he was announcing the iPhone on O2. He was asked a question about 3G and when we'd see it in the iPhone. His response back in September was telling:

"We've got to see the battery life for 3G get back up into the five-plus hour range, before it's really suitable for [the iPhone]. I think we'll see that hopefully late next year. But right now, you make a really big tradeoff to go to 3G, and that's really bad battery life."

Well, AT&T's Randall Stephenson had a big PR quotefest that you can read over at Bloomberg, and he mentions again that the iPhone would be coming out in 2008, but without the 'late' part. A lot of naysayers will use that to back up their crazy predictions of 3G iPhones arriving 'May 2008.' They may do well to note that Jobs is not so optimistic: he's thinking hopefully late next year, meaning there's a real possibility of 2009.

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AT&T CEO Stephenson Confirms Jobs

There are tons of 3G phones on the market here in Europe. And most of them deliver decent battery life. Why can't Apple manage to get things right?
I start suspecting it's all about the price of 3G parts and the additional price people are willing to pay for such a feature...
R.

What I wonder is this: Could the iPhone that is on the market right this moment also run 3G? With a firmware upgrade, perhaps? Here is why I ask - a Windows Mobile phone can run on both EDGE and 3G. Can the iPhone only run EDGE because it is crippled? I wonder...

There are tons of 3G phones on the market here in Europe. And most of them deliver decent battery life. Why can't Apple manage to get things right?
I start suspecting it's all about the price of 3G parts and the additional price people are willing to pay for such a feature...
R.
I wouldn't attribute it to either stupidity or malice, just business and battery life. AT&T's 3G rollout wasn't really near complete, so their main market for iPhones is mostly EDGE markets. And when they started designing the iPhone years ago, 3G was barely a gleam in Cingular's eye.
With battery life, if a person is worried about battery life or running out of juice in less than a day on their iPhone, they'd be less likely to use it as an iPod.
What I wonder is this: Could the iPhone that is on the market right this moment also run 3G? With a firmware upgrade, perhaps? Here is why I ask - a Windows Mobile phone can run on both EDGE and 3G. Can the iPhone only run EDGE because it is crippled? I wonder...
It's my understanding that the current iPhone does not have the proper chip(set) to run on a 3G network at 3G speeds. So firmware updates wouldn't do it.
My understanding is that the iPhone has a 3G chipset in it but its 3G functions are unused; the current iPhone also lacks a 3G antenna. I don't think it will ever be enabled, but bringing the iPhone in to an Apple store to get the antenna replaced would be cool. Not likely, but cool. I get this idea from Cringely, caveat emptor.
BTW Rener, all the rumors I see point to January. I think it's very safe to say that we'll see a Rogers launch well before we see a 3G iPhone. 3G iPhone is probably a year away; a Rogers launch is probably scant months away.

I believe it goes slightly beyond the chipset to an entire other radio. Either way the current iPhone will not work on a 3G network.
There are other phones that have 3G on ATTs network and the battery life sucks on all of them, and not just when data is being accessed. The Blackjack has been plagued by horrible battery life even when simply making voice calls while on the 3G network. I've not seen any 3G phone that will go an entire day without needing some juice at some point. Plus, the whole point of having 3G is to make using the internet more appealing, if thats the case then one would expect an increase in data usage which would drain the battery even faster.
Apple often makes fringe, or "yet to be fully adopted" technology mainstream, but not before it makes sense. I trust that Apple will throw a 3G radio in the iPhone when they can keep the battery life at about the same level it is now.

BTW Rener, all the rumors I see point to January.
I sincerely wish, but my faith has been made weak by time and constant disappointment from Rogers on everything from current handsets to data rates to VoIP throttling.
(I'm running an expatriated iPhone at the moment, which Rogers doesn't seem to have a problem with, but of keen interest will be whether Rogers and Apple will create a "path back to the fold" for people who have one of those 250K off AT&T phones but who would be willing to get onto a legit iPhone contract in exchange for support and easy future upgrades).
I get this idea from Cringely, caveat emptor.
Indeed...

While the (purely conjectural, since it was never announced) delay in iPhone 2 from Spring to Summer/Fall 2008 likely has everything to do with development timelines for feature implementation, the conspiracy minded will no doubt wonder how the news of an iPhone 2 delay hits the media scant days after AT&T moronically announced iPhone 2 for next year, threatening sales of this years model...Apple product cycle playing havoc with NAND flash market
The product at fault here is the iPhone, but the specific issue is related to the timing of Apples release of new and updated iPhones. Originally, the new models were thought to be coming in March, but more recent information suggests a summer or even fall release. If Apple pushes back the iPhone, the overall demand for NAND flash in the first and second quarters of 2008 would likely decrease even more than expected, which isnt exactly what the manufacturers want to hear.